{"id":227093,"date":"2026-04-11T01:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T01:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/227093\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T01:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T01:23:13","slug":"drivers-spend-nearly-600-a-year-in-traffic-report-ranks-orlando-among-nations-worst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/227093\/","title":{"rendered":"Drivers spend nearly $600 a year in traffic, report ranks Orlando among nation\u2019s worst"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 A new report ranks Orlando one of the top cities in the nation for traffic, with drivers losing many hours a year and spending hundreds annually sitting in gridlock. <\/p>\n

One stretch of Interstate 4 is among the busiest corridors in the country, and even with billions in improvements underway, relief may still be years away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like you always find bumper-to-bumper traffic here on I-4, and there\u2019s a lot of congestion. That\u2019s why FDOT has several projects underway, and they say they could be wrapping up in 2031,\u201d one reporter said.<\/p>\n

Peter Shepard, a Polk County resident, said congestion has made traveling on I-4 difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bad. Real bad. It\u2019s not a good way to travel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For drivers like Shepard, I-4 has been a daily frustration for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so many people here \u2014 so many people traveling, so many tourists. You know, different driving styles, different ways of driving,\u201d Shepard said.<\/p>\n

New data from INRIX<\/a> shows Orlando drivers lose 32 hours a year to traffic, up four hours from last year. The city is ranked 37th out of 300 metro areas in the U.S., which is one spot higher than last year.<\/p>\n

The report also found the stretch from the eastbound Anderson Expressway to World Drive ranks fourth among the busiest corridors in the country.<\/p>\n

Amy Bonilla, an Uber driver, said the ranking matches what she sees on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially Champions Gate. It can get nasty,\u201d Bonilla said.<\/p>\n

FDOT<\/a> says relief is coming through a multibillion-dollar overhaul that includes adding express lanes, rebuilding interchanges and widening the roadway, with completion targeted for 2031.<\/p>\n

\u201cFDOT says all this construction is set to be completed by 2031, but many people find that hard to believe,\u201d the reporter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh. Long time. That\u2019s a long time. That\u2019s a long time,\u201d Shepard said.<\/p>\n

Another driver said the timeline is too long.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s an extended plan … and it takes too long. We need a plan now that works for now, because what they\u2019re currently doing \u2014 the congestion has been so bad,\u201d the driver said.<\/p>\n

The INRIX report also found gridlock costs about $589 per driver annually, up more than $100.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 A new report ranks Orlando one of the top cities in the nation for traffic,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4569,139,141,140,729],"class_list":["post-227093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-i-4","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}